Порядок проведення державного іспиту

СТРУКТУРА ДЕРЖАВНОГО ІСПИТУ З ІНОЗЕМНОЇ МОВИ

У зв'язку з необхідністю комплексної перевірки вищезазначених умінь та навичок, екзамен проводиться у вигляді тесту і містить лексико-граматичний матеріал, який засвоєно студентами під час вивчення дисциплін «Іноземна мови (за професійним спрямуванням)», «Ділова іноземна мова».

Формат державного екзамену з іноземної мови базується на вимогах рівня володіння мовою В2 і охоплює всі види мовленнєвої діяльності. Екзамен складається з двох частин – письмової роботи та усної відповіді.

Письмова робота виконується 20 хв і включає:

1. Лексико-граматичний тест (15 тестових завдань)

Усна відповідь:

2. Читання і переклад тексту за фахом (1200 знаків).

3. Монологічне мовлення за однією з тем, які вивчалися протягом курсу «Іноземна мова (за професійним спрямуванням, поглиблене вивчення)», «Ділова іноземна мова».

4. Діалогічне мовлення за цією темою (бесіда з екзаменатором).

Перше завдання – лексико-граматичний тест, який включає завдання на перевірку основних лексико-граматичних структур, а також стилістичну і прагматичну компетенцію з використання лексико-граматичних структур в реальній мовній комунікації.

Для другого завдання іспиту тексти для читання та перекладу підібрані в межах загальноекономічних та фахових знань за наступною тематикою:

1. Економіка.

2. Уряд і бізнес.

3. Визначення та функції менеджменту.

4. Просування товару на ринку.

5. Міжнародний бізнес. Багатонаціональні компанії.

6. Рахунок асигнувань.

7. Виконавчі директори.

8. Основні фінансові документи.

9. Сили, які впливають на сучасний маркетинг.

10. Торгівля та рахунок прибутків і збитків.

11. Інформаційні технології (IT).

12. Оподаткування.

13. Міжнародна торгівля.

14. Ринки.

15. Державні та приватні підприємства.

16. Значення управління.

17. Розповсюдження товару.

18. Монетарна політика.

19. Інвестування в компанію з обмеженою відповідальністю.

20. Продаж і купівля за допомогою кредитних карток.

21. Промислове управління.

22. Недоліки керівництва.

23. Принципи міжнародної торгівлі.

24. Поглинання.

25. Внутрішня перевірка.

26. Банки. Типи банків.

27. Рада директорів.

28. Реклама.

29. Податок на додану вартість.

30. Бізнесове підприємство.

В третьому завданні студенти повинні послідовно та логічно усно викласти свої думки за тематикою, що вивчалася в курсі «Іноземна мови (за професійним спрямуванням)».

Четверте питання дає змогу показати навички та вміння діалогічного мовлення, вміння сприймати мову на слух та вести бесіду з екзаменатором у формі запитань та відповідей.

Структура екзаменаційного білета

1. Лексико-граматичний тест (15 завдань)

2. Читання і переклад тексту за фахом (1200 знаків).

3. Монологічне мовлення за визначеною темою.

4. Діалогічне мовлення за цією темою (бесіда з екзаменатором).

Додаток 1 зразок текстів для читання та анотування

BUSINESS. FORMS OF BUSINESS

The word «business» is used in many modern languages. In ancient times it meant trade for things people wanted. Nowadays business is production, distribution and sale of goods or services to get some profit.

Production is, as a matter of fact, making things, producing goods and creating services.

Distribution is moving things from the place of production (works or factory) to the market-place.

As for the sale of goods and services, it is the exchange of a product or service for money.

In any business activity making a profit is the major aim. Profit is defined as the money that remains after paying all the expenses in business.

In most countries there are three forms of business. They are the sole proprietorship, the partnership and the corporation.

The sole proprietorship means to go into business for oneself. Everybody has the right to do it. All you need is ideas about the busi­ness, some capital to begin with and knowledge of regulations of this business.

The partnership is the association of two or more people involved into business. In partnership it is important to have a written partnership agreement.

The corporation is the so called «a legal person», an institution to make a profit. Those who operate a corporation have stock certifi­cates. The individuals who own such stock certificates (or shares) are called stockholders. As a matter of fact, there are privately owned business corporations and governmental ones.

BUSINESS IN UKRAINE. OBSTACLES AND PERSPECTIVES

The PERU group (Project on Economic Reform in Ukraine) from Harvard University has carried out a questionnaire in Ukraine. Fifty-three foreign businessmen took part in it. Over 73 per cent of the respondents singled out constantly changing laws and regulations, and 59, 6 per cent named imperfect banking system as the main obstacle.

The following problems were also pointed out as important: unclear investment legislation, difficulties in locating places for advantageous invest methods, poor communication services and prob­lems with mutual payments.

The following problems, pointed out as potential, occupy the lower part of the fable: insufficient delivery of materials, corruption in government, problems in dealings with the Ukrainian partner, unfavourable tax legislation, language barriers, etc.

Whether economic reforms will be realized according to legisla­tion, ratified by the Parliament or as a result of government edicts is a matter of politics not economics. Any course that would lead Ukraine to a stable economy should be adopted.

Problems, as we see, are in law and policy that is they depend on the “higher ups” rather on than the “masses”. If the government takes quick and decisive actions to reorganize the policy of Ukraine, then Ukrainians themselves will ensure all that is necessary for the economic rebirth of their state.

National Economy of Great Britain

The economy is primarily based on private enterprise and govern­ment policy and is aimed at encouraging the private sector, which accounts for about three quarters of the total output in the whole economy and over two-thirds of total employment. Britain's workforce in employment is about 26 million. The number of women seeking work has risen substantially. As in other industrial countries, there is con­cern about employment. Even when the workforce was expanding, unemployment did not decline as quickly as employment, rose. With a predicted fall in the number of young people, the population of work­ing age will grow more slowly than in recent years. The population increase in Great Britain between 1990 and 2000 is projected at 0,7 million, compared with a rise of 2,4 million in the previous 1 3 years.

Growth in manufacturing productivity in Britain is faster than in all other leading industrialized countries. It grew by average of 4,7 per cent a year. Productivity in the economy as a whole increased slowly.

Britain has a relatively open economy, in which international trade is a vital part of economic performance. Exports of goods and services account for about a quarter of GDP, this proportion has increased in recent decades. Similar rises have occurred in most other developed countries, reflecting the importance of international trade in an increasingly interdependent world economy.

Britain is a major exporter of aerospace products, electrical equip­ment, chemicals, oil and many types of machinery. It is also one of the world's largest importers of agricultural products, raw materials and semi manufactures. Exports of manufactures have risen faster than imports in each of the last three years. At present, Britain has a deficit on visible trade. Membership of the EC has had a major impact on Britain's pattern of trade, increasing the proportion with other member countries.

Investing in a Limited Company

When a limited company has started trading, you do not invest in shares by giving more capital to the company. You buy them from one of the shareholders. If it is a private limited company, a shareholder can only sell shares if all the other shareholders agree. If it is a public limited company, shares can be bought and sold freely, usually at a Stock Exchange. If the company is doing well and paying high dividends, then you might pay more than the face value of the shares. If it is doing badly, you might pay less than the face value of the shares. The price you pay at the Stock Exchange (or to a shareholder) for your shares is their market value. If the company fails, it will stop trading and go into liquidation. This means that all the company's property and equipment (its assets) must be sold and the money from the sale will be used to pay any more money. In other words, the share­holder's liability for debts is limited to the value of their shares.

On the other hand, if you are an owner of a business which is not limited, for example a sole proprietorship (owned by one person) or a partnership (owned by between 2 and 20 people) and your business fails, you will go bankrupt. In this case you might have to sell your own private possessions (your house, car, furniture etc.) to pay all your creditors. In other words, sole proprietors and partners have unlimited liability for their firms debts.

THE STRUCTURE OF A COMPANY

Organization structure in business is very important. People in a company, its employees hold different positions.

The relationship between those employees with different positions makes organization structure.

At present most firms are divided into their major parts: capital (shareholders); management; labour. Let us take a typical company. There is a director who is a senior manager. He sets up the Board of Directors under the authority of the President. The Board decides what company policy and expendi­ture must be.

The chief executive officer (CEO) is the link between the Board and the senior management.

As for middle managers, they run departments of a firm. They account to the senior management for their area of the work done.

There is a difference between executive directors and non-execu­tive ones. The directors who run their firm on day-to-day basis are called executive directors. Those who sit on the Board and do not run the firm directly are called non-executive directors. In modern American English they use also the term inside directors for execu­tive and outside directors for non-executive ones.

BANK ORGANIZATION

Banks are among the most important financial institutions. The way in which a bank is organized and operates is determined by its objectives. The first and most important function of a central bank is to accept responsibility for advising the government on the making of the country's financial policy, and then to see that it is carried out. The aim of commercial banks is to earn profit. Over the years banks have developed organizational forms, or structures, designed to perform these various roles and to supply the services their customers demand.

A commercial bank which provides the same range of services year after year is less likely to be successful. Successful competing in the constantly changing global business environment requires market-driven strategies that are responsive to customers' needs and wants. Executives who do not recognize the changes occurring in the vast array of markets for products and services will not be able to cope with the unprecedented competitive pressure in the market place.

The service operations of a small bank are usually monitored by a cashier and auditor working in the accounting division and vice-presidents heading up the bank's loan, fundraising market and trust departments (if the bank offers trust services). The officers report to the senior executives of the firm, consisting of the board chairman, the president (who usually runs the bank from day to day), and senior vice-presidents, who are responsible for a long-range planning and for assisting heads of the various departments in solving their most pressing problems. Senior management, in turn, reports periodically (at least once each month) to the members of the board of directors -the committee selected by the shareholders to set a policy and oversee the bank's performance.

THE ROLE OF FINANCE

An accountant may be compared to a skilled laboratory technician who takes blood samples and other measures of a person's health and writes the findings on a health report (a set of financial statements). A financial manager for a business is the doctor who interprets the report and makes recommendations to the patient regarding changes that would improve health. Financial managers use the data prepared by the accountants and make recommendations to the top manage­ment regarding strategies for improving the health (financial strength) of the firm.

A manager cannot be optimally effective at finance without under­standing accounting. Similarly, a good accountant needs to under­stand finance. Accounting and finance, finance and accounting - the two go together like bread and butter.

As you may remember, financing a small business is a difficult but critical function if a firm expects to survive those important first five years (the simple reality is). The need for careful financial manage­ment is an essential, ongoing challenge a business of any size must face throughout its entire life. Financial problems can arise in any type of organization. Chrysler Corporation faced extinction in late 1970s due to severe financial problems. Had it not been for a government-backed loan of $1 billion, Chrysler may have joined the ranks of defunct auto companies such as Packard.

A global view of finance

When you read the financial literature, you find that there are many articles about the difficulty of finding the start-up funds for a new business. You have read how venture capital firms are pulling back from making such loans; so are the banks. In short this is a very difficult time to get financing for a new business venture.

Think of how difficult it will be, therefore, for new business ventures in South Africa, Poland, Hungary, China, and other newly developing countries to get financing. The risks are great, and the managerial expertise is sometimes limited. Yet the future growth of the whole world depends on the growth of entrepreneurship throughout the world.

What can be done to help the entrepreneurs of developing coun­tries get the financing they need to start new ventures? One answer is for firms in the developed countries to set up joint ventures with firms in the developing countries. Such joint ventures will open new-markets for the firms of the developed countries and provide the financing needed by less developed countries (LCD's). Another answer is for venture capital firms to expand worldwide. The risk may be great, but the potential for gain is just as great. Often the capital needs of firm in less developed countries are relatively small. Sometimes $1,000 is all that is needed. The government could pro­mote such an investment by giving tax breaks to those firms and indi­viduals that provide capital for entrepreneurs in LCDs.

MONEY

Money is commonly accepted as a means of paying for the goods and services individuals need and want. Money enables us to function in society and to have the things we need to survive - things such as housing, food, clothing, transportation, heat and water.

Money has not always been the coins and paper bills known to us. Throughout history various things of value have been used as money. For example, in many parts of the ancient world, salt was used as money because it was rare and necessary to life. Among many early cultures, furs or pelts were used as money, eventually valuable metals became the most common type of money; in fact, gold coins were used as money in the United States as recently as 1933.

Currency, which is dollar bills and coins, fits most of the defini­tion of money. However, checks are accepted as payment for purchas­es, and checking account deposits are considered money and not cur­rency. To define money as currency would be considered too narrow for most economists.

Function of money

Money has three basic functions. It serves as a medium of exchange, as a measure of relative value, and as a store of value.

As a medium of exchange, money enables two individuals to exchange without having to barter; that is the carpenter doesn't have to build a step for the grocer every time he wants a carton of milk. The carpenter can build steps or anything else for anybody, receive money for his services, and use money to purchase milk from the gro­cer. The grocer can in turn use the money received from the carpen­ter and others to purchase a suit from the tailor.

As a measure of relative value, money allows two dissimilar items to be purchased on similar bases. It is in terms of money that we think of value. How many cartons of milk should the grocer pay for a suit? If asked that question, you might ask, how much is a carton of milk worth? And how much is the suit worth? You would want to define the exchange in terms of the relative value of the two items and would use the value in dollars (money) to determine how many car­tons of milk it should take to buy a suit. Money helps to think of different things in terms of a common value base. As a store of value, money makes it possible for us to hold onto the value over time. If the grocer would have to hold the value of his milk in milk, he could not do it for long because it would spoil. If he sells the milk and gets money for it, he can hold the money until he wish­es to purchase something.

ACCOUNTING AND BOOKKEEPING

The aim of accounting is to show a financial condition of a compa­ny. It is an accounting department of a firm that records and measures all relevant financial data of its business activity.

There are the two types of records which are the most important ones. It is the income statement, on the one hand, and the balance sheet, on the other hand. An accounting department records and measures the activity of a business. It reports on the effects of the transactions the firm’s financial condition. Accounting records give a very important data. It is used by management, stockholders, creditors, independent analysts, banks and government.

Most businesses prepare regularly the two types of records. That is the income statement and balance sheet. These statements show how money was received and spent by the company.

One major tool for the analysis of accounting records is ratio analysis. A ratio analysis is the relationship of two figures. In finance we operate with three main categories of ratios. One ratio deals with profitability, for example, the Return on divestment Ratio. It is used as a measure of a firms operating efficiency.

The second set of ratios deals with assets and liabilities. It helps a company to evaluate its current financial position. The third set of ratios deals with the overall financial structure of the company. It analyses the value of the ownership of the firm.

Who are the users of accounting records? There is a wide range of different users of these records or, as specialists often say financial reporting or financial statements. They are stockholders, present and potential investors and creditors, management, independent analysts, banks, debtors, competitors, tax bodies, government.

HUNTING FOR A JOB AND RECRUITMENT

The process of finding people for particular jobs is recruitment or hiring. Someone who has been recruited is a recruit (a hire). The company or organization employs (hires) him/her. A company may recruit employees directly or use employment agencies. Nowadays some agencies use the practice of headhunting when outside specia­lists called headhunters persuade people for very important jobs to leave their organizations they work for in search of very important jobs. Many organizations and companies hire candidates who come recommended by current employees.

Nearly everyone sooner or later, finds himself searching for a job. Most candidates usually hunt for a job themselves they look through: advertisements about vacancies on the page “Employment” in a newspaper or on “Jobs” site in the Internet or take their parents' or friends' advice, etc. If a person finds out appropriate information, he applies for a job. At the beginning he sends his typed or printed CV or resume with the information about his education, background and work experience. This paper usually accompanies a letter of application or a cover letter explaining why he wants the job and why he is the right person for it. The cover letter serves as an introduction and guide to the resume, but after you've sent these papers, you shouldn't just sit by the phone waiting for an answer. Don't forget that companies receive hundreds of e-mails, resumes, so an applicant should call a company. Receiving these papers, the per­sonnel department of the company analyses them: the backgrounds of the applicant, the job experience and educational qualifications.

THE INTERVIEW

When you apply for a job, you often have to go for an interview. What is the best way to get the job? Which of the statements in each pair do you think gives the best advice?

You should never smoke during an interview. It's all right to smoke, provided that you ask for permission first.

There's nothing you can do to stop being nervous - it's quite nor­mal. You appear nervous in front of the interviewers, they are more likely to give the job to someone else.

It's a good idea not to agree with the interviewer, he / she will be impressed that you have got your own ideas.

You should find out as much about the job as possible before you go. You will be told about the job when you go for the interview.

Everybody is nervous at interviews so don't worry about it. If it becomes a real problem, then go for a walk just before the interview and watch other people living their daily life - try to realize that if you fail the interview it is not the end of the world. There are other more important things in life. Try not to resort to having the drink before the interview.

It is obvious that you are expected to arrive on time, but a surpris­ing number of people still manage to arrive late and this clearly makes a very bad impression, however, good the excuse is. So make sure that you know exactly where you have to go and work out how you are going to arrive there with plenty of time to spare. If you do arrive early, you can always spend time looking around the premises. Decide if you would like to work there.

BUSINESS LETTERS

Letters are the most common form of intercultural business cor­respondence. Rules and traditions of correspondence vary in time but some basic principles of a commercial letter remain unchanged. Intercultural business writing depends on the subject and purpose of your message, the relationship between you and the reader, and the customs of the person to whom the message is addressed.

Business letters include all kinds of commercial letters such as let­ters of inquiry, order letters, conforming an order, letters of claim and complaint, cover letter, letters requesting and providing information, reminder letters, personal business letters, replies to those mentioned above, etc.

A business letter should be as short as possible (better up to 1 page), intelligible, polite, and its language must be simple. A pri­vate business letter is written by hand, but if a letter is sent by an organization, it is typed on the form of this organization with a let­ter-head printed typographically.

A letter is composed of the following elements: a heading, a date, a receiver's address, a salutation, a text, a signature, etc.

In economic theory, demand means the amount of a commodity or service that economic units are willing to buy, or actually buy, at a given price. In economic theory, therefore, demand is always effective demand ,i.e., demand, supported by purchasing power , and not merely the desire for a particular commodity or service.

Obviously, demand is not only influenced by price, but also by many other factors, such as the incomes of the demanders and the prices of substitutes. In economic analysis, these other factors are frequently assumed to be constant. This allows one to relate a range of prices to the quantities demanded in what is called the demand function (with price as the independent and demand as the dependent variable) and to graph this relationship in the demand curve.

The demand curve is the graphical representation of the demand function, i.e., of the relationship between price and demand. It tells us how many units of a particular commodity or service would be bought at various prices, assuming that all other factors (such as the incomes of the demanders and the prices of substitutes) remain unchanged. The demand curve normally slopes downwards from left to right, which means that more is bought at low prices than at higher prices. A famous exception to the rule of a downward-sloping demand curve is the Giffen paradox . If the condition that all other factors remain unchanged is relaxed and the incomes of the demanders, for instance, are allowed to change, then the whole demand curve will shift its position.

The theory that uses the tools of supply and demand to explain differences in wage rates is called the traditional theory of wage determination. For example, many people can dig ditches or work as baby sitters. However, fewer have the skills to become professional managers. In other words, professional managers generally are scarcer than ditch diggers or baby sitters.

This can be expressed in terms of supply and demand. When the level of supply is large in relation to demand, wages generally are low. When the level of supply is low in relation to demand as with managers — wages generally are high. In most cases, the higher the level of skills, or grade of labour, the higher the average yearly wage rate . For example, semiskilled workers will receive more, on the whole, than unskilled workers. Skilled workers will receive more than semiskilled or unskilled workers. Professional workers will receive more than any of the others.

There are, however, some cases in which the traditional theory does not explain the variations in wage rates. Some unproductive workers, for example, may receive high wages because of family ties or political influence. Some highly skilled or productive workers may receive low wages because of race, sex, or where they live.

At times, wages are determined not by supply and demand but by the influence of organized labour and the collective bargaining process.

In these cases, unions do not try to get higher wages for their members on the grounds that labour is in short supply relative to demand. Nor does management push for lower wages when there is a very large supply of labour. This makes the price of labour-wages hard to define.

When negotiating for wages , unions want to know the wage rates in other plants for the same kind of work and what changes have taken place or will take place in the future in the cost

Business people think of demand as the consumption of goods and services. At the same time, they think of supply as their production. As they see it, supply means the quantity of a product supplied at the price prevailed at the time. Economists are concerned with market as a whole. They want to know how much of a certain product sellers will supply at each and every possible market price. Supply may be defined as a schedule of quantities that would be offered for sale at all of the possible prices that might prevail in the market. Everyone who offers an economic product for sale is a supplier.

The law of supply states that the quantity of an economic product offered for sale varies directly with its price. If prices are high suppliers will offer greater quantities for sale. If prices are low, they will offer smaller quantities for sale. Since productivity affects both cost and supply it is important that care can be taken in selecting the proper materials. Productivity and cost must be kept in mind in order to make the best decision. It means a business must analyse the issue of costs before making its decisions. To make the decision-making process easier we try to divide cost into several different categories.

Fixed cost — the cost that a Business incurs even if the plant is idle and output is zero. It makes no difference whether the business produces nothing, very little, or a lot.

Fixed costs include salaries paid to executives, interest charges on bonds, rent payments on leased properties , local and state property taxes. They also take in depreciation — the gradual wear and tear on capital goods overtime.

Variable cost — a cost that changes with changes in the business rate of operation or output.

Total cost — is the sum of the fixed and variable costs. It takes in all the costs a business faces in the course of its operations.

Marginal cost — the extra or additional cost incurred when a business produces one additional unit of a commodity. Since fixed costs do not change, marginal cost is the increase in variable costs, which stems from using additional factors of production.

In economic theory, the term «supply» denotes the amount of a commodity or service offered for sale at a given price. Just as in the case of demand, supply is determined also by factors other than price, the most important being the cost of production and the period of time allowed to supply to adjust to a change in prices. In economic analysis, these other factors are frequently assumed to be constant. This assumption enables supply and price to be related in what is called the «supply function» (with price as the independent and supply as the dependent variable) and to be graphed in the supply curve.

The supply curve is the graphical representation of the supply function, i.e., of the relationship between price and supply. It shows us how many units of a particular commodity or service would be offered for sale at various prices, assuming that all other factors (such as the cost of production, the period of time involved) remain constant. The supply curve normally slopes upwards from left to right. This indicates that, other things being equal, more is offered for sale at higher prices.

There are, however, exceptions. For example, where goods are in fixed supply, the supply curve would be a straight vertical line. Another exception is the case where a fall in prices calls forth a larger supply because suppliers fear that prices might fall still further, and where, therefore, the supply curve actually slopes downwards. If changes in the other factors are allowed, this would be reflected not in a movement along the curve, but in a shift of the whole curve.

Economists classify markets according to conditions that prevail in them. They ask questions like the following: How many supplies are there? How large are they? Do they have any influence over price? How much competition is there between firms? What kind of economic product is involved? Are all firms in the market selling exactly the same product, or simply similar one? Is it easy or difficult for new firms to enter the market? The answer to these questions helps to determine market structure, or the nature and degree of competition among firms operating in the same market. For example, one market may be highly competitive because a large number of firms produce similar products. Another may be less competitive because of fewer firms, or because the products made by each are different or unique.

In short, markets can be classified according to certain structural characteristics that are shared by most firms in the market. Economists have names for these different market structures: pure competition , monopolistic competition, oligopoly, and monopoly.

An important category of economic markets is pure competition. This is a market situation in which there are many independent and well-informed buyers and sellers of exactly the same economic products. Each buyer and seller acts independently. They depend on forces in the market to determine price. If they are not willing to accept this price, they do not have to do business.

To monopolize means to keep something for oneself . A person who monopolized a conversation, for example, generally is trying to stand out from everyone else and thus attract attention .

A situation much like this often exists in economic markets. For example, all the conditions of pure competition may be met except that the products for sale are not exactly the same. By making its product a little different, a firm may try to attract more customers and take over the economic market . When this happens, the market situation is called monopolistic competition.

The one thing that separates monopolistic competition from pure competition is product differentiation. The differences among the products may be real, or imaginary. If the seller can differentiate a product, the price may be raised a little above the market price, but not too much.

Let us consider the most important terms and definitions in accounting.

To begin with, accounting can be defined as recording and mea­suring of all financial data concerning a given business or organiza­tion activity.

Financial Statements are the central feature of accounting because they are the primary means of communicating important accounting information to users. They, so to say, show business in financial terms.

The most important financial documents are:

1. Profit and Loss Accounts;

2. Balance Sheets;

3. Cash-flow Forecast;

Profit and loss accounts give a “history” of a company's finances during the previous year for some period. They have three sections:

1. Trading section. It shows the revenue from sales and the costs in producing those sales.

2. Profit and loss section. It shows the costs of general overheads such as administration and distribution.

3. Appropriation section. It shows how the received profit is dis­tributed to shareholders and how much profit remains as reserves.

Balance sheets show the financial position of a company on a cer­tain date. Figuratively speaking, a balance sheet provides the so-called “a snapshot” of a company's wealth at a very given moment of time. It has three sections:

1. Assets (fixed and current);

2. Creditors (current and long-term liabilities);

3. Capital and Reserves (company's issued share capital);

The term market, as used by economists, is an extension of the ancient idea of a market as a place where people gather to buy and sell goods. In former days part of a town was kept as the market or marketplace, and people would travel many kilometers on special market-days in order to buy and sell various commodities.

Today, however, markets such as the world sugar market, the gold І market and the cotton market do not need to have any fixed geographical location. Such a market is simply a set of conditions permitting buyers and sellers to work together.

In a free market, competition takes place among sellers of the same commodity, and among those who wish to buy that commodity. Such competition influences the prices prevailing in the market. Prices inevitably fluctuate, and such fluctuations are also affected by current supply and demand.

Whenever people who are willing to sell a commodity contact people who are willing to buy it, a market for that commodity is created. Buyers and sellers may meet in person, or they may communicate in some other way: by telephone or through their agents. In a perfect market, communications are easy, buyers and sellers are numerous and competition is completely free. In a perfect market there can be only one price for any given commodity: the lowest price which sellers will accept and the highest which consumers will pay. There are, however, no really perfect markets, and each commodity market is subject to special conditions. It can be said, however, that the price ruling in a market indicates the point where supply and demand meet.

Although in a perfect market competition is unrestricted and sellers are numerous, free competition and large numbers of sellers are not always available in the real world. In some markets there may only be one seller or a very limited number of sellers. Such a situation is called a monopoly, and' may arise from a variety of different causes. It is possible to distinguish in practice four kinds of monopoly.

State planning and central control of the economy often mean that a state government has the monopoly of important goods and services. Some countries have state monopolies in basic commodities like steel and transport, while other countries have monopolies in such comparatively unimportant commodities as matches. Most national authorities monopolize the postal services within their borders.

A different kind of monopoly arises when a country, through geographical and geological circumstances, has control over major natural resources or important services, as for example with Canadian nickel and the; Egyptian ownership of the Suez Canal. Such monopolies can be called natural monopolies .

They are very different from legal monopolies, where the law of a country permits certain producers, authors and inventors a full monopoly over the sale of their own products.

These three types of monopoly are distinct from the sole trading opportunities which take place because certain companies have obtained complete control over particular commodities. This action is often called «cornering the market» and is illegal in many countries. In the USA anti­trust laws operate to restrict such activities, while in Britain the Monopolies Commission examines all special arrangements and mergers which might lead to undesirable monopolies.

Most people think of demand as being the desire for a certain economic product. That desire must be coupled with the ability and willingness to pay. Effective demand, that is desire plus ability and willingness to pay, influences and helps to determine prices.

In economics the relationship of demand and price is expressed by the Law of Demand. It says that the demand for an economic product varies inversely with its price. In other words, if prices are high the quantities demanded will be low. If prices are low the quantities demanded will be high.

The correlation between demand and price does not happen by chance . For consumers price is an obstacle to buying, so when prices fall, the more consumers buy.

The demand for some products is such that consumers do care about changes in price when they buy a great many more units of product because of a relatively small reduction in price. The demand for the product is said For other products the demand is largely inelastic. This means that a change in price causes only a small change in the quantity demanded. A higher or lower price for salt, for example, probably will not bring about much change in the quantity bought because people can consume just so much salt.

Even if the price were cut in half , the quantity demanded might not rise very much. Then too, the portion of a person's yearly budget that is spent on salt is so small that even if the price were to double , it would not make much difference in the quantity demanded.

Elasticity of supply , as a response to changes in price, is related to demand. Economists define demand as a consumer's desire or want, together with his willingness to pay for what he wants. We can say that demand is indicated by our willingness to offer money for particular goods or services. Money has no value in itself, but serves as a means of exchange between commodities which do have a value to us.

People very seldom have everything they want. Usually we have to decide carefully how we spend our income. When we exercise our choice, we do so according to our personal scale of preferences. In this scale of preferences essential commodities come first (food, clothing, shelter, medical expenses etc.), then the kind of luxuries which help us to be comfortable (telephone, special furniture, insurance etc.), and finally those non-essentials which give us personal pleasure (holidays, parties, visits to theatres or concerts, chocolates etc.). They may all seem important but their true importance can be measured by deciding which we are prepared to live without. Our decisions indicate our scale of preferences and therefore our priorities.

Elasticity of demand is a measure of the change in the quantity of a good, in response to demand. The change in demand results from a change in price. Demand is inelastic when a good is regarded as a basic necessity⁴, but particularly elastic for non-essential commodities. Accordingly, we buy basic necessities even if the prices rise steeply, but we buy other things only when they are relatively cheap.

The third factor of production is capital — the tools, equipment and factories used in production of goods and services. It is a produced factor of production, a durable input which is itself an output of the economy. For example, we build a textile factory and use it to produce shirts, or assemble a computer and then employ it in educating students.

As noted earlier, such items are also called capital goods . This is to distinguish them from financial capital , the money used to buy the tools and equipment used in production.

Capital is unique in that, it is the result of production. A bulldozer may be an example of capital goods used in construction. At the same time , it was manufactured in a factory which makes it the result of earlier production.

When the three inputs — land, labour and capital — are present, production or the process of creating goods and services, can take place. Even the production of the service called education requires the presence of land, labour and capital.

Entrepreneurship, the managerial or organizational skills needed by most firms to produce goods and services, is the fourth factor of production. The entrepreneur brings together the other three factors of production — land, labour and capital. When they are successful, entrepreneurs earn profits , the return or reward for the risks, innovative ideas and efforts put into the business. When they are not successful, they suffer losses .

Just as economists study the amount of goods and services brought to market by a single producer, they also study the total amount of goods and services produced by the economy as a whole. Thus, they examine aggregate supply — the total amount of goods and services produced by the economy in a given period, usually one year.

A number of factors affect an economy's aggregate supply. Two of these are the quantity of resources used in production and the quality of those resources. For example, an economy must have an adequate supply of natural resources and capital goods to be productive .

It also needs a skilled and highly motivated labour force. A third factor affecting aggregate supply is the efficiency with which the resources are combined. If they are combined in a productive way, aggregate supply will increase.

In order to measure aggregate supply, statistics must be kept. To keep with this task economists use national income accounting — a system of statistics, that keeps track of production , consumption, saving and investment in the economy. National income accounting also makes it possible to trace long-run trends in the economy and to form new public policies to improve the economy.

The most important economic statistics kept in the national income! accounts is Gross National Product (GNP). This is the dollar measure of the] total amount of final goods and services produced in a year. It is one of the most important and comprehensive statistics kept on the economy's performance .

The reason people cannot satisfy all their wants and needs is the scarcity of productive resources. These resources or factors of production are called land, labour, capital, and organization or entrepreneurship . They provide the means for a society to produce and distribute its goods and services.

As an economic term land means the gifts of nature or natural resources not created by human efforts. They are the things provided by nature that go into the creation of goods and services. Land has a broad meaning. It is not only land itself, but also what lies under the land (like coal and gold), what grows naturally on top of the land (like forests and wild animals), what is around the land in the seas and oceans and under the seas and oceans (like fish and oil). It includes deserts, fertile fields, forests, mineral deposits, rainfall, sunshine and the climate necessary to grow crops.

Because there are only so many natural resources available at any given time, economists tend to think of land as being fixed or in limited supply. There is not enough good farmland to feed all of the earth's population enough, sandy beaches for everyone to enjoy, or enough minerals to meet people's expending energy needs indefinitely.

The second factor of production is labour — people with all their efforts and abilities. Unlike land, labour is a resource that may vary in size over time. Historically, factors such as population growth, immigration, famine, war and disease have had a dramatic impact on both the quantity and quality of labour.

Labour is the human input into the production process. It may be mental or physical. But in many tasks it is necessary to combine mental activity with physical effort. The price paid for the use of labour is called wages . Wages represent income to workers, who own their labour. Land and labour are often called primary factors of production . It is one whose quantity is determined outside the economy

Studying economics for the first time, it is necessary to know what economics is all about . Economics deals with production, distribution, exchange and consumption. Economics is also concerned with unemployment, inflation, international trade, the interaction of business and labour, and the effects of government spending and taxes.

Economics is a social science like history, geography, politics, psychology and sociology.

Economists study what is or tends to be and how it came to be.

For our own purpose, we shall define economics as the study of man in his attempts to gain a living by utilizing his limited resources.

To understand economics, a review of some key terms is necessary: needs , wants , and demands

A need is a basic requirement for survival. To satisfy this need, a person may want a pizza, hamburger or other favorite food.

The study of economics is concerned with economic products — goods and services that are useful, relatively scarce and transferable to others

The terms goods and services are used to describe many things people desire. Consumer goods are intended for final use by individuals to satisfy their wants and needs.

The other type of economic product is a work that is performed for someone. Services can include haircuts, repairs to home appliances and forms of entertainment like rock performances.

In economics the term value means something having a worth that can be expressed in dollars and cents. Someone may say, for example, that he or she has a valuable coin, the value, is determined by the price someone would pay for the collection.

But what makes some things worth more than others? The diamond-water paradox, also known as the paradox of value, helps answer this question. Early economists observed that some things like water were essential to life, yet had little monetary value. Other things, like diamonds, were not essential but had higher value.

Later economists decided that part of the reason was due to scarcity. For example, water is so plentiful in many areas that it has little or no value. On the other hand, diamonds are so scarce that they have great value. In order to have value, it has to be somewhat scarce. Scarcity, however, is not enough. If something is to have value, it must also have utility, or the capacity to be useful to someone. Utility is not something that is fixed and can be measured like weight or height. Instead, the utility of goods or services may vary from one person to the next. One person may, for example, get a great deal of enjoyment from a home computer, another may get very little. In the end, for something to have value, it must be scarce and have utility.

Another economic concept is wealth — the sum of those economic products that are tangible, scarce, useful and transferable from one person to another. Most economic goods are counted as wealth, but services are not. The reason for this is that it is difficult to measure the value of services accurately. For example, it is difficult to measure the contribution made by people's abilities and talents to a nation's wealth.

A country's total worth then is the stockpile of useful scarce, tangible things in existence at a given time. National wealth includes all such items as natural resources, factories, stores, houses, theatres, books, video games etc.

The study of economics is concerned with economic products — goods and services that are useful, relatively scarce and transferable to others. The important thing is that economic products are scarce in an economic sense. That is one cannot get enough to satisfy individual wants and needs . The fact that economic products command a price shows that they have these characteristics.

The terms goods and services are used to describe many things people desire. Consumer goods are intended for final use by individuals to satisfy their wants and needs. Manufactured goods used to produce other goods and services are called capital goods . An example of capital goods would be a computer in a school.

The other type of economic product is a work that is performed for someone. Services can include haircuts, repairs to home appliances and forms of entertainment like rock performances. They also include the work performed by doctors, lawyers and teachers. The difference between goods and services is that the services are something that cannot be touched or felt like goods.

Many other things — sunshine, rainfall, fresh air — are known as free products because they are so plentiful. No one could possibly own them, nor would most people be willing to pay anything for them. In fact, some are so important, that life would be impossible without them) Even so, free products are not scarce enough to be major concern in the study of economics.